Hi Jim,
Always interesting reading about the path others took.
Like you, I began my radio career in Chicago in 1958.
However at the time, my only radio was a home-brew crystal radio and I mainly
listened to WLS.
My father was a Captain in the army at the time and in 59 we moved to Germany.
I soon built a Heath AR3 receiver and a homebrew 6L6 single-tube transmitter.
The Germans would not allow us to get on the air until we were 18 so I used a
home brew call sign (DL4EU). I worked only CW. The real DL4EU only worked AM
so we never had a problem.
We returned to the states in 1962, got my novice (WN5ETA), came in 2nd in
Oklahoma in the novice roundup. Then I came in 2nd in Sweepstakes in OK, two
years in a row. I was running wires and a DX-40, the winner had Collins
S-Line, tower and beam.
For the next 8 years I was mostly active in the National Traffic System, net
control, regional rep, etc.
Moved to Germany (as a soldier myself) in 1972, and in 1973 I organized an MS
effort in CQWW SSB, taking 1st place in DL, beating out the Technical
University of Berlin (DK0TU) who had always won in the past. They invited me
to participate with them in CW and we won again. I could not have fielded a
team of CW operators so I was lucky to join that team.
I remained on the DK0TU team for 8 years and we always won. ALWAYS. Every
contest we entered. We had over 80 members in the University club, but only 14
of us were allowed to operate in the CW contest. Sounds today like a lot of
operators for a MS station, but back then we operated with 4 operators at a
time. We had a drake T4X in the middle with an operator manning it and
logging. Left and right we had R4C's with one man manning each. Each had a
foot switch which enabled him to take over the transmitter. On another side
table we had a 4th man searching for multipliers on other bands. Later we set
up a remote listening site operating out of my VW camping bus. They were
located way up north in West Berlin, outside of the noise blanket of the city.
They had a 2m link into us. So then we were up to 5 operators at one time.
Ancient History now, but winning combination back then.
In 83 I moved to Munich, was only mobile for 3 years until I finally got a QTH
where I could put up antennas. I then joined the freshly founded Bavarian
Contest Club and coached them into team contesting. I also taught them the
benefits of a separate RX site and 3 years later we broke the long standing EU
records for CQWW SSB and CW - using a separate RX site.
This 2nd RX site was not my idea. That was standard operating procedure in the
US Army Signal Corps where I served 3 years.
10 years later we shattered the all time world record for SSB and CW (CN8W).
In getting to that point, I co-founded Germany's first Packet Radio Cluster.
Over the years I collected over 20 1st place certificates in CQWW but mostly as
one of the Ops in a MS or MM station.
I still am listed on CQWW DX All Time High Score web site about 5 times, but
only once as Single OP. The others are MS or MM op.
When I came to DL in 1972, I joined one of the Berlin Clubs and together with
DL7AV, we (2 operators) took 2nd place in DL field day contest (CW only). Then
the contest bug really bit me.
The last two times I ever operated FD contest in DL was 2004 and 2005 where my
3-man team took 1st place overall. It's also the last time I ever won a
contest.
TODAY: I generally fall asleep at the desk and wake up "whenever". GAME OVER.
:-(
COMPUTER LOGGING: I guess I am a pioneer in computer logging. I brought a
computer to DK0TU in 1978 and we logged on the computer...parallel to logging
on paper. Nobody trusted my computer - that's why they also logged on paper.
In 1978 we logged on my computer. NOTICE: NINETEEN "SEVENTY"-EIGHT, logging
CQWW on a computer! I had one of our software gurus at my QRL (Rhode und
Schwarz) write the program for me; cost me only two bottles of schnapps. It
logged, checked duplicates, and calculated the score at the end of the contest.
It did not calculate score in real-time. So far I have yet to meet anyone who
began computer logging in major contests earlier than that.
I still enjoy contesting . . . if only I could stay awake.
I am now at the other end of the scale: contesting QRP.
I am using my own brand of radio, the "Aerial-51, Model SKY-SDR".
It's an all band 5w all mode transceiver with one @ss-kicking receiver!
BTW, I dropped out of team contesting long ago when all of the stations here
began running illegal power. Our license only permits 750w. I only work under
the terms of my license.
RADIOS:
> I ran Collins in my MARS station in the Army.
> We ran Drake Line at DK0TU
> Non-Contesting I had Argonauts from 1975 until TODAY.
> In 1979 I got my first OMNI and ran Ten-Tec until 1983.
> Ran a SWAN 110x mobile for 3 years
> Icom from 1986 to 89.
> Ten-Tec Omni V in 1989, followed by Omni VI, Omni VI+, Orion, and now Eagle
So you see Jim, I have been contest focused for 55 years now...if only I could
stay awake.
Always a pleasure, even though we sometimes don't agree.
73
Rick, DJ0IP
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2017 6:37 PM
To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] New Computer
On 10/29/2017 1:48 AM, rick@dj0ip.de wrote:
> For the non-contesters, CT is the old DOS-based contest logging software.
>
> I stuck with CT until WIN-TEST announced.
I started contesting in 1956 or 57, all CW. It was paper logs and paper dupe
sheets. As I went through life, I was on and off the air for decades at a time,
and the next time I contested was in the '70s. Still paper logs and paper dupe
sheets, but I had a programmable AEA keyer that could do serial numbers! From a
very modest station on a postage stamp sized Chicago city lot, I placed 1st or
2nd in a LP CW SS. All the great ops must have been running HP. :)
Fast forward to 2003, and I was doing research into RFI to audio gear. A friend
arranged for me to set up the gear next to his club's Field Day antennas. After
I'd finished those tests, I saw an empty chair at one of the CW stations and
asked if I could sit down. I got up 5 hours later.
They were using WriteLog, and I had a terrible time with it. Did OK with the CW
though -- thanks to my early proficiency, it always came back for me. I got
back on the air at home, first with an antenna that ran through my attic and
partially outdoors, and eventually the antenna farm that's on at least one set
of Power Point slides. I bought WriteLog, got back into contesting, and got
pretty good with the software.
When I move to W6, I immediately joined NCCC, a great contesting club centered
between San Francisco and Reno, and was invited to join the multi-op team at
N6RO's super station. Depending on the contest, they used CT or another popular
DOS logger, both of which I found varying degrees of inscrutable. Around 2007,
my second FD in W6 was with a group whose leader advised a few months before
that we were going to use N1MM for logging, so I downloaded it, installed it,
and started using it in some contests. Within a year, I had dumped WriteLog and
have used N1MM ever since.
> We actually did the premiere announcement of WIN-TEST on our "Appello"
> booth (the TEN-TEC booth) in Friedrichshafen, either the first or
> second year that the Orion was launched (can't remember which).
A few of my friends out here who are great contesters love WinTest. It does not
support CQP, and maybe not RTTY, so I haven't bothered to buy and learn another
one. I'm quite happy with N1MM.
> The French authors gave us
> all a free license for WIN-TEST so I finally dumped CT and went
> Windows for logging - but still on a laptop.
>
> Rapid recovery in contests was the reason I continued with a laptop.
That's certainly part of it, and also a reason why I won't do contest logging
on a computer running Win 10. But i leave my computers running 24/7, so
protecting them from power failures is a primary reason.
> NOW: Jim, if we are both honest with ourselves, I don't think either
> of us old men are ever going to win a contest again. I haven't won a
> contest
> (overall) since 2005. And we're not getting any younger.
I occasionally place well, and even win for my ARRL Section or Division in my
class, and a year ago, set a world record for 80M in All Asia CW. That's a
contest for which I have the same advantage of location that stations in W1
have in WW DX contests.
> I put ferrite (clamps) over both ends of all the cables and so far I
> haven't had any trouble with it interfering with the station.
Simply placing a ferrite clamp on a wire is pretty much useless for HF
-- multiple turns are required.
73, Jim K9YC
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